Maison Mode Méditerranée endowment fund grants 13 scholarships for 2021-22

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jul 16, 2021

Marseilles-based fashion organisation Maison Mode Méditerranée (MMM), created by Marylin Bellieud-Vigouroux in 1988, became an endowment fund in June 2020. The fund, set up with an initial capital of over €500,000, has recently announced the 13 projects selected to benefit from its financial support for the 2021-22 period.

In this first year of operation, the fund decided not to issue a call for projects, considering the number of spontaneous applications it received as soon as its creation was announced. The team of MMM’s experts and managers, including Maryline Bellieud-Vigouroux, Françoise Montenay, head of Chanel's supervisory board, historian Olivier Saillard, designer Sakina M’Sa and Dominique Jacomet, director of the French Fashion Institute (IFM), have awarded “13 scholarships (...) for this first year, in line with our specifications, worth in total €100,000,” as MMM stated in a press release.

The first 10 scholarships were assigned to 10 labels from seven countries (Croatia, France, Greece, Lebanon, Portugal, Senegal and Tunisia) for a total of €50,000. The vast majority of the recipients are graduates of international fashion schools.

The scholarships have been split into three categories, reflecting the recipients’ goals. For the first category, designed to assist in brand development and production, MMM chose Croatian designer Marija Kulusic and her eponymous women's ready-to-wear label, French designer Laura Deweilde with her leather goods brand Incxnnue, the womenswear label by Portuguese designer Katty Xiomara, and Senegalese designer Roméo Moukagny Mindobo, founder of menswear label Romzy.

French designers Julie Bourgeois, head of womenswear label Tata Christiane, and Flore Girard de Langlade, founder of womenswear label Flowergdl, as well as Lebanese designers Ahmed Amer and Cynthia Merhej, founder of the Renaissance label, were awarded ‘Digital culture’ scholarships to improve their websites and boost their social media presence. Tunisian designer Ali Gasmi and Greek designer Melissanthi Spei were each awarded an ‘Image’ scholarship to help strengthen their brand image.

MMM also awarded two research fellowships. The first, as announced at the start of the year, went to Marseilles-based researcher Saveria Mendella, by means of a CIFRE contract (a state-funded contract to support industry training through research) worth €40,000, for her doctorate on “the language of fashion.” The second, worth €5,000, to Khémaine Ben Lakhdar, a PhD student in art and fashion history, a programme jointly offered by IFM and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Finally, a ‘Cultural ethics & sustainability’ scholarship worth €5,000 was awarded to the itinerant project by Atelier Bartavelle (winner of the Open MyMed Prize in 2015). The project seeks to foster connections among women artisans throughout the Mediterranean, and to create, with 10 students from the Ecole Nationale des Arts et du Design (ENSAD) in Paris, a sustainable collection inspired by traditional garments and fabrics.